ContextVision and Medirad Scandinavia Sign a Hospital Distribution Agreement for CT Dose Reduction Product

STOCKHOLM, Sweden—November 24, 2005: ContextVision announced today that a distribution agreement for its CT (Computer Tomography) Dose Reduction product has been established with Medirad Scandinavia. The CT Dose Reduction product will first be supplied to Norwegian hospitals.

CT is an increasingly popular diagnostic procedure within medical imaging. During a CT scan, a series of x-ray images are taken, providing the physician with detailed, multi-layered and thus comprehensive visualization of the anatomy in question. The increased diagnostic content associated with the CT scan comes, however, at the ‘cost’ of exposing the patient to an increased radiation dose, as multiple X-ray images are taken. As this diagnostic modality is gaining popularity worldwide, also for general screening purposes, the potentially harmful radiation exposure is becoming a concern to healthcare providers globally. ContextVision is now offering an image-enhancement solution, which allows for the radiation dose to be lowered substantially, without impairing the image quality of the captured x-rays. By applying ContextVision´s patented GOP® image processing software technology on CT images, the radiation dose can be substantially reduced with maintained image quality. Furthermore, when lowering the radiation dose associated with each x-ray, the useful lifetime of an x-ray tube is also increased substantially, leading to significant cost savings to hospitals. Clinical evaluations of ContextVisions solution for CT Dose Reduction are ongoing at several hospitals in the United States and Europe and are expected to be completed during first quarter 2006. The agreement with Medirad Scandinavia calls for initial deliveries to pilot hospitals in Norway during the first quarter 2006. These hospitals will evaluate the product in a production environment and ensure that workflow is maintained. Regular customer deliveries, also to hospitals in Norway and Sweden, are expected to be started during the second quarter 2006. Medirad Scandinavia will be responsible for integration, installation and support of the product towards the hospitals. “We are delighted to establish a close cooperation with Medirad Scandinavia as a first step in launching our unique CT Dose Reduction product. With Medirad’s proven knowledge of and long experience in the Norwegian medical imaging market, we are confident that the launch will be successful and will meet our customers’ expectations,” said Jan Erik Hedborg, CEO of ContextVision. “We are extremely enthusiastic about being the first to introduce a modality independent CT Dose Reduction. This is a break-through solution which will reduce patient concerns for unhealthy radiation exposure,” said Peter A. Wasa, the CEO of Medirad Scandinavia AS. “ContextVision offers a revolutionary technology solution for our customers.”